Michigan cops investigated for allegedly forcing black men to sing, dance on camera

An internal police investigation has begun in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan following the posting of photos and videos on a Detroit blog which allegedly show officers calling on black men to sing and “dance like a chimp.”

Motor City Muckraker, a blog run by former Detroit Free Press
reporter Steve Neavling, who now works for Reuters, ran a post on
Thursday alleging Grosse Pointe Park police officers of taking
“humiliating photos and videos” of black men and sharing
them with friends and family.

Neavling wrote that he received the materials from an anonymous
source “confirming that more than a dozen demeaning videos of
black men were sent and forwarded from the phones of Grosse
Pointe Park police.”

The blog posted two grainy videos which show black men singing
and making vague animal noises after reportedly being told by
police officers to perform in front of the camera.

In one incident, a Grosse Pointe Park police officer allegedly
texted a photo of a black man in the back of a trailer with the
message, “Gotta love the coloreds.” In a video posted on
the blog, the same officer is alleged to have told a mentally ill
black man to sing. The unspecified officer “sent at least six
videos of the same mentally ill man singing or stuttering on
command,” Neavling wrote.

Neavling told The Huffington Post that he has not shared the rest
of the materials at this time due to their "humiliating
nature."

Grosse Pointe Park Police Captain David Loch told The Huffington
Post that an investigation has begun in response to the blog’s
allegations.

“On Thursday, November 14 2013, the Grosse Pointe Park Public
Safety Department was contacted by an individual who said that he
was in possession of video clips and a photo of African American
males. The video clips and photo are allegedly made by an officer
of this department. The department has begun an internal
investigation of this matter. The Grosse Pointe Park Public
Safety Department does not tolerate unprofessional conduct by its
officers when interacting with any citizen they may come in
contact with,” Loch said.

The blog reported that multiple police officers
were involved in the videos, but only named Officer Mike Najm as
a source of the photos and videos. Huffington Post was told by
“several people” that Najm’s ex-wife may be the source of
the materials.

Grosse Pointe Park - a mostly white suburb where nearly half of
all households have an income of $100,000 and up - borders the
east side of Detroit, a predominantly African-American city with
a population over 60 times the suburb’s size.